Labor candidate for Farrer, Christian Kunde, resigned from the race after learning about a Daily Telegraph story linking him to an extreme Islamist group.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The story claimed Mr Kunde had “close ties” to a group called Hizb ut-Tahrir and its spokesman Uthman Badar. Mr Kunde said he only had a “casual acquaintance” with Mr Badar, whom he had met at university “years before” the man joined the Islamist group.
The story also claimed Mr Kunde had made homophobic comments during a speech at Sydney University where he compared homosexuality with incest. Mr Kunde denied the claims and said the Daily Telegraph had taken the comments out of context. During the 2013 election campaign Mr Kunde had spoken in favour of same-sex marriage to students at Sydney University.
“I said there was no good secular argument against same-sex marriage and any religious argument could only be applied to that community,” Mr Kunde said. “Remarks I made in that context… have been edited to make it look like I opposed same-sex marriage.”
Mr Kunde said he got a call from a Daily Telegraph journalist at 6pm on Sunday asking him to respond to the claims and he was “most concerned” someone deemed it acceptable to print it at all.
“They called me at 6pm and gave me an hour to reply to 10 questions,” he said. “Given the nature of what was printed I made the right call. We assumed the worst-case scenario and that’s exactly what it was.”
Labor spokeswoman Catherine King said Mr Kunde had been deceptive with Labor preselectors and welcomed his resignation.
“He's obviously not been honest during the preselection process and he's right to resign,” Ms King told ABC radio.
However, the Labor Party will still be able to reap thousands of dollars from Farrer despite Mr Kunde’s withdrawal.
The Australian Electoral Commission stated, in line with legislation, it will not remove Christian Kunde's name from ballot papers and his vote will be counted.
Therefore if Labor accrues over 4 per cent it will get $2.63 for every vote it receives. The last federal election in Farrer netted Labor about $48,000.
Despite no longer having a candidate, Labor will still hand out how-to-vote brochures and display signage at major booths in Farrer on election day.
Albury Labor figure Darren Cameron said the presence would be aimed at attracting votes for the Senate with his party keen to secure a fifth NSW upper house seat with union official Tara Moriarty in contention.
